Yet he but doubts and parlies, and casts out
Many a long look for succour.

Cleo. He sends word

He fears to see my face.

Alex. And would you more?

He shows his weakness who declines the combat;
And you must urge your fortune. Could he speak
More plainly to my ears the message sounds,
Come to my rescue, Cleopatra, come;
Come, free me from Ventidius, from my tyrant;
See me, and give me a pretence to leave him.

[A march. I hear his trumpets. This way he must pass. Please you retire a while; I'll work him first, That he may bend more easy.

Cleo. You shall rule me,

But all, I fear, in vain.

Alex. I fear so too,

[Exit with Char. and Iras.

Tho' I conceal'd my thoughts to make her bold;
But 'tis our utmost means, and Fate befriend it.

[Withdraws. A march till all are on.

Enter Lictors with fasces, one bearing the Eagle; then enter ANTONY and VENTIDIUS, followed by other Commanders.

Ant. Octavius is the minion of blind Chance, But holds from Virtue nothing.

Vent. Has he courage?

Ant. But just enough to season him from coward. Oh! 'tis the coldest youth upon a charge,

The most deliberate fighter! if he ventures

(As in Ilyria once they say he did)

To storm a town 'tis when he cannot choose,

When all the world have fixt their eyes upon him; And then he lives on that for sev'n years after : But at a close revenge he never fails.

Vent. I heard you challeng'd him.

Ant. I did, Ventidius:

What think'st thou was his answer? 'twas so tameHe said he had more ways than one to die,

I had not.

Vent. Poor!

Ant. He has more ways than one,

But he would choose 'em all before that one.
Vent. He first would choose an ague or a fever.
Ant. No, it must be an ague, not a fever;
He has not warmth enough to die by that.
Vent. Or old age and a bed.

Ant. Ay, there's his choice;

He would live like a lamp to the last wink,
And crawl upon the utmost verge of life.
Oh, Hercules! why should a man like this,
Who dares not trust his fate for one great action,
Be all the care of Heav'n? why should he lord it
O'er fourscore thousand men, of whom each one
Is braver than himself?

"Vent. You conquer'd for him;

"Philippi knows it: there you shar'd with him "That empire which your sword made all your own. "Ant. Fool that I was! upon my Eagle's wings

"I bore this wren till I was tir'd with soaring, "And now he mounts above me.

"Good Heav'ns! is this, is this the man who braves

me,

"Who bids my age make way, drives me before him "To the world's ridge, and sweeps me off like rubbish?"

Vent. Sir, we lose time; the troops are mounted all.
Ant. Then give the word to march:

I long to leave this prison of a town
To join thy legions, and in open field
Once more to show my face.

Lead, my deliverer.

Enter ALEXAS.

Alex. Great emperor,

In mighty arms renown'd above mankind,
But in soft pity to th' oppress'd a god,
This message sends the mournful Cleopatra
To her departing lord.

Vent. Smooth sycophant!

Alex. A thousand wishes, and ten thousand pray'rs, Millions of blessings, wait you to the wars;

Millions of sighs and tears she sends you too,

And would have sent

"As many dear embraces to your arms.

As many parting kisses to your lips,

But those she fears have weary'd you already.

Vent. [Aside.] False crocodile !

Alex. And yet she begs not now you would not

leave her;

That were a wish too mighty for her hopes,

And too presuming (for her low fortune and your ebbing love),

That were a wish for her most prosp❜rous days,
Her blooming beauty, and your growing kindness.
Ant. [Aside.] Well, I must man it out-What would
the Queen?

Alex. First to these noble warriors who attend
Your daring courage in the chase of fame
(Too daring and too dang'rous for her quiet)
She humbly recommends all she holds dear,
All her own cares and fears, the care of you.
Vent. Yes, witness Actium.

Ant. Let him speak, Ventidius.

Alex. You, when his matchless valour bears him forward

With ardour too heroic on his foes,

Fall down as she would do before his feet,

Lie in his way, and stop the paths of Death;
Tell him this god is not invulnerable,

That absent Cleopatra bleeds in him;
And, that you may remember her petition,
She begs you wear these trifles as a pawn,
Which at your wish'd return she will redeem
[Gives jewels to the Commanders.

With all the wealth of Egypt.

This to the great Ventidius she presents,
Whom she can never count her enemy,
Because he loves her lord.

Vent. Tell her I'll none on't;

I'm not asham'd of honest poverty:
Not all the diamonds of the East can bribe
Ventidius from his faith. I hope to see
These and the rest of all her sparkling store
Where they shall more deservingly be plac'd.
Ant. And who must wear 'em then?
Vent. The wrong'd Octavia.

Ant. You might have spar'd that word.
Vent. And she that bribe.

Ant. But have I no remembrance ?

Alex. Yes, a dear one;

Your slave, the queen

Ant. My mistress.

Alex. Then your mistress.

Your mistress would, she says, have sent her soul, But that you had long since; she humbly begs This ruby bracelet, set with bleeding hearts, (The emblems of her own) may bind your arm. [Presenting a bracelet.

Vent. Now, my best lord, in honour's name I ask

you,

For manhood's sake, and for your own dear safety,
Touch not these poison'd gifts,

Infected by the sender; touch 'em not;
Myriads of bluest plagues lie underneath 'em,
And more than aconite has dipt the silk.

Ant. Nay, now you grow too cynical, Ventidius;
A lady's favours may be worn with honour.
What, to refuse her bracelet on my soul,